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Princess Pingyang -

Princess Pingyang wasn't born into royalty, far from it. Her father was an army general working for the widely detested Emperor Yang, whose main priority was the construction of the Great Wall of China, no matter what the human cost.

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Princess Pingyang -

Emperor Yang, aware of his unpopularity, ordered the assassinations of many of the generals he felt would turn against him, including Pingyang's father, Li Yuan. Li Yuan, after catching word of his planned murder, started an uprising, and Pingyang came to join him. Pingyang quickly amassed an army 70,000-strong, and endeared herself to the common people. She was known throughout China as an equally feared and loved general. Once her father's revolution successfully usurped Emperor Yang, Pingyang became Princess Pingyang, and is believed to be the only woman in Chinese history to have received a military funeral.

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Boudicca -

The story of the infamous Briton warrior-queen who decimated invading Roman forces, Boudicca, is a classic story of righteous revenge. After the death of her father, the king of the Icini tribe, the Romans immediately deposed Boudicca as the rightful ruler of her tribe, assaulted her, and flogged her daughters.

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Boudicca -

Boudicca wasted no time returning to her feet, raising an army that consisted of multiple British tribes, and went on a rampage down the Eastern coast of Britain, decimating three Roman strongholds along the way and almost completely wiping out Rome's infamously ruthless Ninth Legion. Cornered by the Romans just outside London, at the end of her righteous reign of terror, Boudicca chose to take her own life with dignity rather than be captured and abused once more by the Romans. 

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Olga of Kyiv -

Olga of Kyiv was one of the most important and influential leaders of early Europe. After the murder of her husband in 945 CE, Olga went on a rampage of revenge, the likes of which the world has rarely seen, and nearly wiped the Drevlian tribe, those responsible for her husband's death, off the face of the Earth.

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Olga of Kyiv -

Not only did Olga enact swift revenge against her husband's killers, but she also reformed the laws that caused the feud in the first place, in what is thought to be the first recorded legal reform in European history. Later in life, after converting to Christianity, she became canonized as a saint on the same level as the 12 disciples, an honor that has only been bestowed upon five women in history.

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Rani Lakshimibai -

A national symbol of bravery in India, Rani Lakshimibai, the queen of the North Indian state of Jhansi, was a major player in the first Indian War of Independence against the English Imperialists.

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Rani Lakshimibai -

After her husband, the Maharaja of Jhansi, was killed, Lakshimibai valiantly defended her kingdom, adeptly fighting alongside her army, a large portion of which were other women personally trained by Lakshimibai, until they were ultimately defeated. The queen was able to escape, however, and continued to fight with Indian resistance forces until she eventually died in battle in 1858 at the age of 29.

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Zenobia -

The legendary Queen of the Palmyrene Empire, in modern-day Syria, was a fearsomely effective and efficient ruler. When her husband, the king of Palmyra, died, their empire was practically the property of the Romans. All that changed within a matter of just as few years after Zenobia rose to power.

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Zenobia -

Two years after her husband's death, in 269 CE, Zenobia had not only reclaimed Palmyra's original territory but had also taken Egypt from the Romans, as well as huge chunks of Jordan, Palestine, and  Anatolia.

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Lozen -

Lozen, little-known outside of the sphere of Native American history, was the sister of an Apache chief and was considered the "shield of her people." Lozen never married, and dedicated her life to the arts of combat and medicine.

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Lozen -

Lozen was close friends and comrades with Geronimo (pictured), a shaman, medicine man, and central figure in the Apache-United States conflict. Lozen, apart from being an impeccably skilled war, also learned the arts of shamanism from Geronimo, and some would say surpassed her mentor. Legend has it she was able to uncover important information about the invading enemies through her shamanism.

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Queen Teuta -

The Illyrian Queen Teuta remained dedicated to her late husband's ambitions of expansion along the Adriatic Sea during the third century BCE, even when the Romans tried to dissuade her. 

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Queen Teuta -

On one diplomatic visit from the Romans, one of the Romans let his anger get the best of him and insulted both Teuta and Illyria. Queen Teuta refused to let such an attack on her honor go unpunished, and had the diplomat assassinated, starting the First Illyrian War.

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Catherine the Great -

One of the most famous queens in history, and nearly single-handedly responsible for modernizing Russia, was the truly respectable Catherine the Great.

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Catherine the Great -

After usurping her own husband, Catherine the Great devoted resources towards forwarding the arts and culture of her country, all while successfully fighting off the Ottoman Empire and expanding the Russian Empire across three continents.

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Hatshepsut -

Ruling during the 18th dynasty of ancient Egypt, from 1479 to 1458 BCE, Hatshepsut is thought to be not only the second female pharaoh in Egyptian history, but also one of the most successful pharaohs in all of Egypt. 

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Hatshepsut -

During her rule, Hathshepsut, restored numerous essential trade routes that had been broken during previous dynasties, and expanded the Egyptian Empire into the Levant and Nubia.

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Empress Dowager Cixi -

One of the most powerful women in the history of China, Empress Dowager Cixi ruled China for nearly half a century. Starting her life as a low-ranking consort of the previous emperor, Cixi bore his only son, and once the emperor passed, Cizi became the empress dowager, "sharing" the throne with her six-year-old son.

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Empress Dowager Cixi -

During her reign, Cixi quelled several rebellions that stemmed from the nobility, -opened foreign-language schools for the first time in China, and worked harder than any ruler before to establish international relations and rid the interior government of its corruption.

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Cleopatra -

Although perhaps most famous for her romantic exploits with both Julius Caesar and Marc Antony, Cleopatra, the last ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt during the first century BCE, was also an incredibly accomplished ruler in her own right.

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Cleopatra -

Technically only a queen regent throughout her rule, she remained the dominant political force in Egypt and navigated the country's way through the catastrophic aftermath that followed the death of Julius Caesar.

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Empress Theodora -

The story to Empress Theodora, who ruled the Eastern Holy Roman Empire from 527 to 548 CE, is one of the greatest rags-to-riches stories of history. From her beginnings working in a brothel in Constantinople, she became one of the most progressive rulers of the old world.

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Empress Theodora -

During her co-reign along her husband Justinian, Empress Theodora became a staunch advocate for women's rights, opened safe houses across the empire for ex-brothel workers to stay protected from their former bosses, banished brothel owners from Constantinople, and even instituted some of the world first anti-sexual assault legislation.

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Artemisia of Caria -

Queen of Halicarnassus, Artemisia I of Caria seemed to prefer the violent sea to the throne room. During her reign, she formed a close alliance with Xerxes I, the king of Persia, and led his navy in numerous battles against the Greeks. 

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Artemisia of Caria -

She was widely considered the best commander in the Persian navy, and her abilities as a strategist have been praised in numerous historical accounts of the Persian invasions of Greece.

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Empress Suiko -

Ruling from 592 to 628 CE, Empress Suiko was the first recorded empress of Japan, and her impact on the nation can still be felt to this day. She remains one of Japan's most beloved rulers.

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Empress Suiko -

Empress Suiko was not only responsible for introducing Buddhism to Japan, but she also put into effect Japan's first-ever constitution, known as the 'Seventeen-Article Constitution,' which prioritized the honesty and integrity of government officials.

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Maria Theresa of Austria -

Maria Theresa, Hapsburg empress of the Holy Roman Empire and mother of Marie Antoinette, was one of Europe's longest-reigning rulers. Empress Maria Theresa ruled for 40 years between 1740 and 1790.

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Maria Theresa of Austria -

During her 40-year reign, Empress Maria Theresa successfully strengthened the central government of the Holy Roman Empire, expanded the military, and enacted widespread tax reforms that brought stability to her empire.

Sources: (New York Post) (The Guardian) (History of Royal Women)

See also: History's greatest warrior women

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